Garage door opening and closing apparatus



Aug. 23, 1938. J. J. KRAMER 2,127,522

GARAGE DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 1, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Zhmentor Josey/7 J Kramer (.Ittorneg 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 nnentox Cittorneg w I. .C 5 7 a 67 m 5 P L 8 a 5 5 p 4&- A a 1? M W 5 a m :m c N ab 3 4 e B Aug. '23, 1938. J. J. KRAMER GARAGE DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING APPARATUS Filed, Feb. 1, 1936 III/m Patented Aug. 23, 1938 UNITED STATES GARAGE DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING APPARATUS Joseph J. Kramer,

National City, Calif.

Application February 1 1936, Serial No. 61,905

7 Claims.

My invention relates to a garage door opening and closing remote control apparatus, and the objects of my invention are:

v First, to provide an apparatus for opening and closing double hinged garage doors from the drivers seat of an automobile when either entering or leaving the garage.

Second, to provide an apparatus of this class I in which the doors are securely latched in either open or closed position and may be locked in closed position by said apparatus.

Third, to provide an apparatus of this class in which the remote control portion is positioned up over head out of the way.

in which the apparatus must be unlatched through the means of the remote control before it is operative either for opening or closing the doors.

Fifth, to provide an apparatus of this class which is manually operated and requires no power mechanism in connection therewith.

Sixth, to provide an apparatus of this class by means of which the double doors on each .,side are operated in unison and therefore uniform opening and closing of the doors is provided.

Seventh, to provide an apparatus of this class which is very efficient in its action and which will not readily deteriorate or get out of order. 7 With these and other objects in view as will appear hereinafter my invention consists of certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts and portions as will be hereinafter described in detail and particuslarly set forth in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the characters of reference thereon which form a part of this application in which;

Figure 1 is a fragmentary'elevational view of the garage doors and apparatus in connection therewith showing the doors closed and looking outwardly from the inside of the garage taken from the line I! of Fig. 5; Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the door engaging and operating mechanism as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings; Fig. 3 is a sectional view from the line 33 of Fig. 1 showing the doors in their open position; Fig. 4 is a detailed elevational view from the line 44 of Fig. 3 of the 6' door control mechanismwith the doors in their opened position as distinguished from the same structure in Fig. 1 of the drawings; Fig. 5 is a sectional view from the line 5-5 of Fig. 1 showing some of the parts and portions in elevation to facilitate the illustration; Fig. 6 is an en- Fourth, to provide an apparatus of this classtional view from the line Ill-40 of Fig. 5; Fig.

11 is a sectional view from the line H-H of Fig. 10; and Fig. 12 is an enlarged sectional view from the line l2l2 of Fig. 1.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts and portions throughout the several views of the drawings.

The double door sets I and 2, door control arm 3, door control arm handle 4, door control dogs 5 and 6, door control dogs supporting plate 1, lever 8-, bifurcated lever 9, T members H1 and II, lever l2, trip member i3, rods l4 and I5 and frame F constitute the principal parts and portions of my garage door opening and closing remote control apparatus.

The double door sets i and 2 each consist of two doors hinged together at their adjacent sides by means of hinges 2a and one door of each set is hinged to the garage door frame as shown best in Fig. 3 of the drawings by means of hinges 2b. The door sets I and 2 open from the center simultaneously and swing outwardly, each door set folding together as it swings open as shown in' Fig. 3 ofthe drawings. The doors are guided by an overhead trolley T with which pulleys 2c are supported on the inner upper corners of the door sets I and 2. Mounted on the adjacent edges of the door sets I and 2 near their upper edges are bars Id and 2d which overhang the edges of the doors for holding them in their proper relation to each other when closed, shown I best in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

The doors are controlled from the driver's seat of the automobile by means of the door control arm handle 4 which is tubular as shown best in Figs. 5, 6 and 10 of the drawings. It is pivotally connected and supported on the door control arm 3 by means of bracket member 311 so it will swing from side to side as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 5 of the drawings. It is provided on its lower endwith a threaded slotted portion do on which is mounted a nut 4b, see Fig.6 providing means for securing the telescoping member 40 therein in different elevated positions. This member 40 is provided on its lower end with a flange id all. as shown best in Figs. 5 and 10 of the drawings. Extending through the members d and 4c is a shaft 46 which is provided on its lower end with a disk 4] and a loop memher do which serves as a handle for turning the shaft 46 and as a means for latching said shaft ie. The two disks 4d and M have holes therein that coincide when the disks are in neutral position adapted to receive a padlock as shown in Fig. 11 for locking the apparatus against opening the door. Connected at the upper end of the shaft 46 is a disk 4h which is mounted in "a recess 3b in the arm member 3, all as shown best in Figs. 5 and 9 of the drawings, so that the disk 4h revolves with the shaft 4e. Connected to this disk th at its one end is a flexible rod 30 which is pivotally connected thereto. This rod 30 extends longitudinally through the arm 3 near its upper surface to its opposite end and is secured to the one end of the plate 'I' as shown best in Figs. 5, 'l, and 8, so that when the shaft de is rotated the plate I which is secured to this lever arm 3 by a pin through the slots Ia and lb will shift longitudinally upon the arm 3. The end of the arm 3 is slotted at 3d as shown by dotted lines in Figs. 7 and 8 of the drawings, and the plate 1 which is also slotted at la is positioned directly above said slot M in the arm member 3. Vertically shiftable within these slots 3d and 7c are the dogs 5 and 6 which are supported by means of pin 3e but are shiftable upwardly and downwardly thereon because of slots 5a and through which the pin 3e extends. In order to lift the dog 5, plate 1 is shifted by turning the shaft 48 until the plate I engages the dog 5 at 5?) and then by pulling down on the arm handle 4 causes the outside end of the lever 3 to move downwardly and the inside end to move upwardly since said arm 3 is pivoted at 32 as shown best in Figs. 5, 7, and 8 of the drawings.

Also by shifting the plate I to the proper position, the dogs 6 can likewise be lifted. However,

both dogs 5 and 6 cannot be lifted at the same time. Pivotally connected to the lower end of the dog 5 is the lever arm 9, and pivotally connected to the lower end of the dog 6 is a bifurcated lever arm 8 as shown best in Figs. 7, 8 and 12 of the drawings, it being noted that the arm 8 is positioned intermediate the extended elements of the bifurcated lever ii as shown best in Figs. '7 and 12 of the drawings. These levers ii and 9 are pivotally supported intermediate their ends by means of a pin 8a supported by brackets 81) on the frame member F as shown best in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Pivotally connected to one blade of the bifurcated levers at its one end is a link member Iiia and to the other blade of said bifurcated member 9 a link member Ila and pivotally connected to the lever 8 are link members 16b and Ill). The links la and lb are connected to the T member I0, and the links Ila and lib are connected to the T member II, all of said links Illa, [01), Ha, and III) are slotted where they connect with the T members and are secured to said T members by means of pins through said slots. Both T members I0 and II are pivotally connected to the frame of the garage by a common pin I 00. Thus it will be noted that as the dog 6 is lifted lever B will draw down the ends of rods Iilb and Ilb thereby causing the T member I 0 to pivot about Iilc counter-clockwise and T member II, clockwise. If the dog 5 is lifted by lever 3, bifurcated lever 9 will draw down on the ends of links Ilia and IIa thereby causing the T member IE to pivot clockwise and T member II counter-clockwise or just the reverse motion that would be caused by lifting the dog 6.

The lower end of the T member I0 is connected to the rod I4 at its one end. To the opposite end of the rod I4 is connected a trip member I3. This trip member I3 is pivotally mounted upon an L shaped member i3a by means of pin I3b shown best in Fig. 2 of the drawings. And this L shaped member I3a is free to turn as a hinge on member 2e, which member 2e is mounted on one of the doors 2 as shown best in Fig. 3 of the drawings. This trip member is because of its hinged relation with the door member 2 is in a position shown in Fig. 1 when the doors are closed and in the position shownin Fig. 3 when the doors are open. Therefore, to open the doors, the plate I is positioned to engage the dog 5 by turning the shaft 4e by its end if and pulling down on the arm 3 by means of the handle t, thereby lifting the dog 5 and causing the T member Ifl to move clockwise and the T member II to move counter-clockwise. The: rod I5 will follow the T member II and the rod I4 will fol low the T member ID. As the rod It moves the trip I3 will press down on the pin I2a causing the lever I2 to pivot at I21) and lift the bolt I20 free from engagement with the door set 2 as shown in Fig. 2, at the same time acting concurrently with rod It is trip I3, L member Ilia and its hinge I311 as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The door set 2 is fully opened when the doors have folded against each other as shown best in Fig. 3 of the drawings and. when in this fully opened position they are latched in such position by the members I20 and I2d, the end of the bar 211 engaging notches I272 in the end of the bar I21 which is secured to and is a portion of the lever I2, thus the members I20 and I2d latch the doors open as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Therefore the doors cannot be closed until these two members I 20 and Lid became disengaged. The doors cannot be closed until the notch [2h is disengaged from the member 2d. This is accomplished by setting the plate 1 to engage the dog 6 and drawing down on the lever 3. This reverses the movement that the rod I4 had when opening the door 2 and also causes the trip I3 to press up against the lever l2 thereby raising the member I2i because the lever I2 pivots about its axis I21) and releasing the notch lift from the member 2d. And since the rod I4 is pushing in the reverse direction required to open the door set 2, will cause said door set to swing about its hinge 2b to its closed position.

It will be here noted that applicant has not fully disclosed the door operating structure at the left side of the door set number I, because the construction is exactly the same, and the mode of operation is exactly the same as that disclosed in connection with the door set number 2, so that the two door sets I and 2 operate by opening and closing in the same manner, operated separately as follows: The doors of set 2 by the T member Ill and rod I4 and the doors of set I by the T member I I and rod I 5 and their similar connecting members,

Though I have shown and described a particular construction, combination, and arrangement of parts and portions I do not wish to be limited to this particular construction, combination and arrangement but desire to include in the scope of my invention, the construction, combination and arrangement substantially as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a garage door opening and closing remote control apparatus, the combination with double folding hinged doors, of an arm member piv' otally mounted on the door frame above said door and extending forwardly of the garage, a. handle member depending therefrom at its outwardly extending end, a shaft revolubly mounted in said handle member, a latch in operative relation with said shaft, and lever and link means connecting with said arm controlled by said latch and connected with the hinged folded door member of said folding doors. 7

2. In a garage door opening and closing remote control apparatus, the combination with double folding hinged doors, of an arm member pivotally mounted on the door frame above said door and extending forwardly of the garage,

a handle member depending therefrom at its outwardly extending end, a shaft revolubly mounted in said handle member, a latch in operative relation with said shaft, lever and link means connecting with said arm, controlled by said latch and connected with the hinged folded door memberof said folding doors, and said link and lever means including pairs of identical members connected with said doors whereby said doors are simultaneously operated.

3. In a garage door opening and closing remote control apparatus, the combination with double folding hinged doors, of an arm member pivotally mounted on the door frame above said door and extending forwardly of the garage, a handle member depending therefrom at its outwardly extending end, a shaft revolubly mounted in said handle member, alatch in operative relation with said shaft, lever and link means connecting with said arm, controlled by said latch and connected with the hinged folded door member of said folding doors, said link and lever means including pairs of identical members connected with said doors whereby said doors are simultaneously operated, and latch means in connection with said door control means for latching said doors in closed position.

4. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with double folded doors on opposite sides of a garage door opening, of bolt and lever means in' connection with said doors for latching said doors in closed position, lever and notch means in connection with said doors for latching said doors in open position, and remote control and latch means in cooperative relation therewith extending forwardly above said garage doors and accessible to the driver of a vehicle from the seat of the vehicle consisting of a forwardly extending door control arm member, a handle extending from the extended end thereof, and latch means revolubly connected with said handle.

5. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with double folded doors on opposite sides'of a garage door opening, of bolt and lever means in connection with said doors for latching said doors in closed position, lever and notch means in connection with said doors for latching said doors in open position, remote control and latch means in cooperative relation therewith extending forwardly above said garage doors and accessible to the driver of a vehicle from the seat of the vehicle consisting of a forwardly extending door control arm member a handle extending from the extended end thereof, latch means revolubly connected with said handle, and means operatively connecting said latch means with door control means. I

6. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with double folded doors on opposite sides of a garage door opening, of bolt and lever means in connection with said doors for latching said doors in closed position, lever and notch means in connection with said doors for latching said doors in open position, remote control and latch means in cooperative relation therewith extending forwardly above said garage doors and accessible to the driver of a vehicle from the seat of the vehicle consisting of a forwardly extending I door control arm member, a handle extending from the extended end thereof, latch means revolubly connected with said handle, means operatively connecting said latch means with said door control means and opening and closing selective means in connection therewith.

'7. In a garage door opening and closing remote control apparatus, the combination with double folding hinged doors of an arm member pivotally mounted on the door frame above said doors and extending forwardly of the garage, a handle member depending therefrom, at its outwardly extending end, a shaft revolubly mounted in said handle member, a latch in operative relation with said shaft, lever and link means connecting with said arm, controlled by said latch and connected with the hinged folded door member of said folding doors, said link and lever means including pairs of identical members connected with said doors whereby said doors are simultaneously operated and latch means in connection with said door control means for latching said doors in closed position and lever and notch means in connection with said doors for latching said doors in open position.

JOSEPH J. KRAMER. 

